1996 Ch La Lagune. Cork stuck and then disintegrating was a bad start. However I quickly double-decanted it twice through coffee filter bags and removed probably 95% or more of the cork. What remained had excellent “mature” colour - deep red with the slighest brown tint - and still very good albeit dry fruit. Plenty of tannin but not overwhelming. Smooth and drinkable, not excessively alcoholic or spiritous either. Nose excellent. Definitely 4 stars (out of five), a proper well matured french bordeaux blend. Allowing for the difficulties with the cork and it’s age, for me it is just short of 4.5 stars. A very pleasing result. I think I have perhaps 5 left from a dozen so best to get onto them!
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Well this bottle of 96 Basket Press has been the best one I have had to date. This wine (I had about 2 1/2 dozen now down to about 15) has often disappointed me me by being so HUGE as to be overpowering. This time, after taking it out of my offsite cellar a few weeks ago and leaving it upright since, it has opened about as perfect as I could ever expect. The colour deep, deep ruby without any brown but clearly not a young wine, nose still intoxiating but in the glass it is divine. It still has sweetness, intense flavours, defintely not cigar-box but abundant unmistakeable Barossa shiraz. The alcohol has finally settled down so it is not dominating and allows the combination of fruit acidity and sweetness to be paramount. Oh that every bottle from my cellar would be as fine! I recently had a friend share a 2002 with me that was nowhere near this one, sadly. I did give him a bottle of this from the same box and await with anticipation how he found it. It doesn't get better than this, in my experience. This was opened to celebtrate news of becoming a first time grandfather, but my palate swears that it has not been influenced by good news and I have gone back and back to the bottle (decanter) to confirm my notes!
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Pulled this out of the cellar and left it upright for several weeks to let the sediment settle. I believe it is the last of only three I had, written on label bought for $40AUD on 23/4/1995. Delighted to find an absolutely magnificent bottle with only a little sediment, cork sound although at the end of it’s useful life. Beautiful deep red colour -no brown at all, sweet nose, full of dark berry fruit on a tight tannin base. Long palate and oh so enjoyable with a red meat meal. Sealed up three times (air removed) and still unchanged after 4 glasses over a full week. Could not be better, offering a long and tight palate, rich but not over rich, sweet berry notes with slight tints of sweet tobacco. A shiraz (or possibly just a bottle) for the ages! I don’t recall the others being this good or even this promising but they would have been consumed around a decade ago.
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1996 Château La Lagune
7/2/2023 - Leconte Likes this wine: 88 Points
1996 Ch La Lagune. Cork stuck and then disintegrating was a bad start. However I quickly double-decanted it twice through coffee filter bags and removed probably 95% or more of the cork. What remained had excellent “mature” colour - deep red with the slighest brown tint - and still very good albeit dry fruit. Plenty of tannin but not overwhelming. Smooth and drinkable, not excessively alcoholic or spiritous either. Nose excellent. Definitely 4 stars (out of five), a proper well matured french bordeaux blend. Allowing for the difficulties with the cork and it’s age, for me it is just short of 4.5 stars. A very pleasing result. I think I have perhaps 5 left from a dozen so best to get onto them!
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1996 Rockford Shiraz Basket Press
10/1/2022 - Leconte Likes this wine: 97 Points
Well this bottle of 96 Basket Press has been the best one I have had to date. This wine (I had about 2 1/2 dozen now down to about 15) has often disappointed me me by being so HUGE as to be overpowering. This time, after taking it out of my offsite cellar a few weeks ago and leaving it upright since, it has opened about as perfect as I could ever expect. The colour deep, deep ruby without any brown but clearly not a young wine, nose still intoxiating but in the glass it is divine. It still has sweetness, intense flavours, defintely not cigar-box but abundant unmistakeable Barossa shiraz. The alcohol has finally settled down so it is not dominating and allows the combination of fruit acidity and sweetness to be paramount. Oh that every bottle from my cellar would be as fine! I recently had a friend share a 2002 with me that was nowhere near this one, sadly. I did give him a bottle of this from the same box and await with anticipation how he found it. It doesn't get better than this, in my experience. This was opened to celebtrate news of becoming a first time grandfather, but my palate swears that it has not been influenced by good news and I have gone back and back to the bottle (decanter) to confirm my notes!
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1991 Wynns Coonawarra Estate Shiraz Michael Hermitage
9/5/2019 - Leconte Likes this wine: 96 Points
Pulled this out of the cellar and left it upright for several weeks to let the sediment settle. I believe it is the last of only three I had, written on label bought for $40AUD on 23/4/1995. Delighted to find an absolutely magnificent bottle with only a little sediment, cork sound although at the end of it’s useful life. Beautiful deep red colour -no brown at all, sweet nose, full of dark berry fruit on a tight tannin base. Long palate and oh so enjoyable with a red meat meal. Sealed up three times (air removed) and still unchanged after 4 glasses over a full week. Could not be better, offering a long and tight palate, rich but not over rich, sweet berry notes with slight tints of sweet tobacco. A shiraz (or possibly just a bottle) for the ages! I don’t recall the others being this good or even this promising but they would have been consumed around a decade ago.
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